Finally, an update

Did you folks think I died?! I know, it's been awhile. Life here has been a titch crazy, and although I don't see it slowing down for quite some time, I wanted to stop and write down what is going on in life.
Cory: Cory has finished his coursework at UCLA and is most of the way done with his Master's Project. His official graduation date is June 11, 2011, and he is happy to report that his wife can't make him attend the ceremony because we will be in UT for Tiff's little brother coming home from a mission. Best news of his life! Cory has interviewed with several places for both a summer internship and for PhD School. We are slowly putting all the options together and are hoping to come to a decision soon. Summer options: Fort Collins, CO or LA. PhD school options: U of Utah, Purdue, or UCLA. When Cory knows, the entire earth will know, because we'll be shouting from the rooftops that a decision has finally been made!
Between classes and his Project, Cory TA'd an Astronomy class (no, he'd never taken an astro class before) this last term and really enjoyed it. He sub'd for another TA once and after class several students came up to him and said they wished he was always their TA because he taught clearly, answered questions well, and overall did a great job. That made him feel good and gave the wife one more reason to push through this schooling gig. He will be a great professor one day.
Cory plays basketball at the church twice a week and really enjoys that. He is also running a 5k race in UT in June with several members of Tiff's family.

Tiff: I have been busy, busy, busy crafting and getting my Etsy shop (sweetpinkzebra.etsy.com) and website (sweetpinkzebra.com) up and running. It has been a long process, but hopefully it will start paying off soon. It has been fun coming up with new ideas and getting better at sewing as well.  I have been trying to eat better and work out to lose some weight and get back in shape. And I'm happy to report that I'm down 12 lbs and have kept it off! Slowly but surely.  I was hoping to run the UT Valley half marathon in June with a bunch of my family, but my bum foot just won't heal. It still bothers me every time I work out, even with ample stretching, warming up, and icing when I'm done. I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow just to make sure everything is okay and healing right, since I don't feel like a mid-foot sprain should take 10 weeks to heal. I'm old, but I'm not that old, people.  But I've signed up to at least run the 5k in Utah, and hopefully I can do a half marathon this Fall. I teach the CTR 5 class at church, and can I just say I love being a Primary teacher? Some weeks I'm completely and totally out of patience with my NINE kids, but most of the time they say the cutest things and give me hugs and it's awesome. I'm sad our Disneyland days have ended, since Cory's pass expired and Emily turned 3 so she costs money now. It was a great ride while it lasted!
Emily: Emily turned the big THREE years old on March 1st, and she was so pleased to have a princess birthday. She is quite into princess everything at the moment, but also loves Cars, and Toy Story stuff too. She would watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all day long if I let her, except when someone is leaving the house and there's a chance to go outside. Emily loves to be out and about, and is a perfect peach 90% of the time.  Emmie still naps 2 hrs a day, speaks in full sentences, has not yet mastered the not wetting during sleep gig, loves to color, sing songs and dance around, read books, play with magnets, dress-ups, and her sister, and is still quite attached to her purple blankie.  She just walks into nursery without a backward glance these days, and that is pretty much awesome. And everyone is "my best friend in the whole world!" And tonight, when I scared her, she yelled, "Mom! You scared me out of the crap!" As opposed to scared the crap out of me.....and I think that's a sign that her mother needs to watch what she says! :) Emily will eat just about any fruit you put in front of her, but only likes peas and green beans. and the only meat she will eat is my sweet pulled pork or chicken with Sweet Baby Rays on it. Go figure.  Emily's favorite color is pink, except when it's purple, and sometimes it's both! And last but not least, this child is completely obsessed with lip gloss. 500 times a day, "Mom can I have some lip gloss?? Pllleeeeeeaaasseee??"--as she is puckering up her lips and sticking them right in my face. She's hilarious. Emily weighs about 26 lbs and has pretty much grown out of her 2T clothing, although she still has plenty of room in her 3T stuff. We also have trouble finding pants that fit her around the waist because she is so skinny.

Natalie: Oh......my sweet Nattie Ann that has learned how to throw a tantrum. It's a good thing she's cute! Nattie has been going to nursery now for 6 weeks and finally on Sunday she turned a corner. She cried for a little bit at first and needed her blankie, but then just got over it, played, ate her snack, and had a good time. I think it helps that Big Sis is there with her too, and that is nice for Cory. Maybe now he will actually get to go to SS and EQ!  Nattie finally cut her 4 incisors (that makes 16 teeth total) after almost 2 months, and it has been bliss. She is also learning to talk, which means the screaming bloody murder has stopped. Now instead of screaming for our attention she says, "mama" or "dada". Pure heaven, folks. Pure heaven. Here are some words that she says: Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Emmie, Amen, uh-oh, gumball, hair, ball, book, bye, drink, please, thank you, princess, purple, up, open, all done, poopy :), blankie, yeah, no, Jesus, temple, Mickey, baby, shoe, nummy (treat), eye, nose. She knows the following body parts: eyes, ear, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, belly, foot, hand, arm, leg, and bum. She also knows the color purple, what the alligator, dog, lion, skunk, and elephant say, and can do the actions for the Going on a Bear Hunt and Book of Mormon Stories songs.  she sings the "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream" Sleeping Beauty song with her sister as they dance around the room holding hands. It's adorable.  Natalie, like her sister, loves to be out and about, and quickly runs for her shoes anytime she hears the word "outside".  Her hair has stayed dark, surprisingly, and it's curly like her Dad's. She weighs about 20 lbs and is in the 10 percentile for height and weight, meaning she's a shrimp and still very much fits in size 12-18 month clothing.
Phew! That is quite the update. But there we are, in a nutshell.